Scottish Executive

Adult Literacy

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the extent is of functional illiteracy throughout Scotland and how it plans to tackle this issue.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The International Adult Literacy Survey suggested that 23% of adults in Scotland may have low literacy and numeracy skills.

  On 2 July I published the Adult Literacy Team’s report, Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland. I am now considering the report’s 21 key recommendations.

  The Scottish Executive has already committed £22.5 million over the next three years to the task of raising literacy and numeracy levels. £18.5 million of this will be channelled through local authorities to community learning strategy learning partnerships to raise to around 80,000 the number of Scottish learners who will be assisted over the next three years.

Asylum Seekers

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a person awaiting a decision regarding asylum is eligible for an individual learning account and what the reason is for the position on this matter.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Education and Training (Scotland) Regulations 2000 determine the qualifying arrangements regarding eligibility for an Individual Learning Account (ILA). These regulations require that an individual must be resident in Scotland on a temporary or permanent basis, and, where such residence is temporary he is ordinarily resident within the European Economic Area.

  In the case of an asylum seeker, his residence in Scotland is dependent on the outcome of a petition for asylum. Until such times as the outcome is known, he cannot be regarded as being permanently resident in Scotland and he would not, therefore, be eligible for an Individual Learning Account. If he were later granted permission to remain in Scotland he would then be eligible for an ILA from that date.

Community Care

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on long-term care for the elderly in (a) Scotland and (b) each local authority area in each year from 1997 to 2001 and what percentage each local authority’s expenditure was of its social services budget.

Malcolm Chisholm: Local authority net revenue expenditure on social work, including nursing and residential care for older people, is given in section 6 of the volumes Rating Review: Actuals of Income and Expenditure published by CIPFA (Scottish branch) for years 1996-97 to 1999-2000. Copies are available in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. no.’s 7544, 7545, 7548 and 14654).

Criminal Records

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when relevant information, guidance and publicity will be provided to the voluntary sector regarding the implementation of Part V of the Police Act 1997.

Mr Jim Wallace: Publicity about Part V of the Police Act 1997 will start to become available shortly. A programme of seminars is also being planned and the Executive will be issuing guidance and a Code of Practice. The central body being established to process applications for criminal record certificates on behalf of the voluntary sector will produce guidance to help the sector make the best possible use of the criminal record checks under Part V.

Criminal Records

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration has been given to off-setting the additional administrative costs to voluntary organisations of processing checks under Part V of the Police Act 1997.

Mr Jim Wallace: We are providing £1 million per annum so that volunteers working with children and vulnerable adults in the voluntary sector will not have to pay for criminal record checks under Part V. In addition, up to £250,000 per annum is being made available to establish the central body to help the voluntary sector make the best use of criminal record checks.

Criminal Records

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all voluntary sector organisations will have to register with the central registered body being established to process applications for criminal record checks for volunteers; if so, what the registration process will involve and, if not, how organisations will access and implement checks via the central registered body.

Mr Jim Wallace: It is not envisaged that voluntary sector organisations will have to register as such with the central registered body. The central body will, however, need to be satisfied about the bona fides of those organisations on behalf of which it countersigns applications. The central body will be entitled to disclose the information provided as a result of an application to the organisation concerned.

Criminal Records

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12600 by Mr Jim Wallace on 1 February 2001, what progress is being made in relation to the establishment of the central registered body to process applications for criminal record checks for volunteers; how this body will be organised; what size of workforce it will have, and whether it will be managed by any particular agency.

Mr Jim Wallace: We believe there would be considerable benefit for all concerned in establishing the central body within an existing organisation that already has a strong connection with volunteers and the voluntary sector. With that in mind we have been examining with Volunteer Development Scotland (VDS) whether that organisation could assume the role of the central body. VDS has agreed in principle to act as the central body and for the body to be located within and as part of its organisation. A draft specification has been prepared and VDS has been invited, on an informal basis at this stage, to consider its terms.

Diabetes

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for the provision of specific clinics for diabetes at general practice surgeries.

Susan Deacon: There is currently no target for individual general practice surgeries to establish diabetes-specific clinics. However, the Scottish Executive would expect Primary Care Trusts and Local Health Care Co-operatives to ensure that there is adequate local provision for people with diabetes. Under current Chronic Disease Management (CDM) arrangements, around 97% of GPs currently provide a diabetes service for diabetic patients.

Economy

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish economy is moving towards recession as technically defined.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Executive does not publish forecasts of GDP growth. The official data on Scottish GDP show that there was an increase of 1.0% in the fourth quarter of 2000. This followed an increase of 0.3% in the third quarter. GDP data for the first quarter of 2001 will be released on 1 August.

Education

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the eligibility criteria are for individual learning accounts.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Regulation 3 of the Education and Training (Scotland) Regulations 2000 stipulates that Individual Learning Accounts are available to all persons aged 18 and over who satisfy certain specific conditions. The person must be resident in Scotland on a temporary or permanent basis, and, where such residence is temporary, he must be ordinarily resident within the European Economic Area.

  The residence of a member of the armed forces is determined as being the establishment where he is for the time being serving. Where the establishment is outside the United Kingdom, his residence is deemed to be the establishment at which he most recently served disregarding any establishment at which he served for a period of less than a month.

Enterprise

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent by each local enterprise company (LEC) in 2000-01 on training, broken down by trade/profession, and what the budget of each LEC is in the current financial year for this purpose.

Ms Wendy Alexander: This is an operational matter for the Enterprise Networks. I will ask the chairmen of both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to write to the member direct. A copy of both replies will be placed in the Parliament’s reference centre.

Enterprise

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive where in the enterprise and lifelong learning level 3 budget the savings of £47 million planned for 2002-03 and 2003-04 will be made and what effect these savings will have on programmes funded by this budget.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The savings of £47 million in the enterprise and lifelong learning budget take place over three years from 2001-02 to 2003-04 as shown in the table.

  


Level 3 
  

2001-02
(£ million) 
  

2002-03
(£ million) 
  

2003-04
(£ million) 
  



Regional Selective Assistance 
  

- 
  

7 
  

10 
  



Student Awards Agency for Scotland - Loan subsidy to students 
  

10 
  

10 
  

10 
  



  The savings from Regional Selective Assistance are due to delay in implementing a number of projects to which assistance has been offered. Forecast expenditure has been adjusted accordingly.

  The savings from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland are the result of a change in the accounting treatment of student loans. This will have no effect on the aggregate sum of money available for lending to students.

European Legislation

Mrs Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to implement Directive 98/04/EEC relating to the award of contracts by utility operators.

Angus MacKay: Directive 98/04/EEC, which predates devolution, makes relatively minor technical amendments to an existing directive on utilities procurement which has already been given effect in UK law. Separate implementation for Scotland would create two sets of amendments to existing UK regulations. This would cause unwarranted complications for those wishing to interpret the legislation and, given that there is no particular Scottish dimension here, I have agreed that implementation should be on a UK basis. A copy of the implementing regulations will be placed in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. no. 14737).

Finance

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has applied to Her Majesty’s Government in the current financial year for further funding for any area within its responsibility.

Angus MacKay: The Executive has not applied to Westminster for additional funding in the current financial year, but has received formula consequentials of English reserve claims.

Justice

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will recommend the introduction of expert witnesses by the Crown in rape and sexual assault cases to give evidence on the psychological and emotional reaction of victims to attacks.

Colin Boyd QC: The report of the Expert Panel on Sex Offending chaired by the Honourable Lady Cosgrove was published on 12 June 2001. It made a total of 73 recommendations including a recommendation that the Crown should consider leading evidence to assist the jury in a sexual offence trial to understand the likely behavioural impact on the victim of a sexual crime.

  The Crown Office is currently considering the report and recommendations. It is anticipated that evidence of this nature would not seek to comment on the credibility or reliability of the individual victim but would simply provide a jury with general evidence in relation to characteristic behaviour of victims which would assist the jury to evaluate their evidence.

Justice

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the introduction of specialist prosecutors in cases of sexual crimes.

Colin Boyd QC: The prosecution of crime is itself a specialised activity. However, the prosecution of sexual offences requires not only the knowledge of the relevant law, which is common to all criminal law practitioners, but also understanding of the effect on the victim and skills in handling such cases. Relevant training is given to all prosecutors and care is taken in the allocation of such cases particularly at precognition stage. Particular issues arise in the case of offences against children and for these cases each region has highly trained, specialist legal and precognition staff who provide a resource for dealing with such cases.

Justice

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for improving the supported accommodation provided by criminal justice social work services for offenders and ex-prisoners.

Mr Jim Wallace: A review of the present arrangements and a consultation paper on future strategy for accommodation services is being issued today.

  Copies of the paper will be available in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. no. 14746).

Modern Apprenticeships

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what foundation Modern Apprenticeships at Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) level 2 have existed, how many apprenticeship places were available and how many were filled in each sector in each year since 1997 to date, broken down by local authority and local enterprise company area.

Ms Wendy Alexander: There is no such information available. Modern Apprenticeships were introduced in Scotland to address the skills needs at intermediate level and lead to a SVQ Level 3. Skillseekers provides training opportunities for young people at SVQ Level 2, at a similar level to Foundation Modern Apprentices in England. These are funded from within the block grant-in-aid provided by the Scottish Executive to Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Planning

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what involvement ministers had in the recent decision to grant planning permission for the mobile phone mast at Bluebell Woods, Johnstone, which overturned the decision made by the planning committee of Renfrewshire Council.

Lewis Macdonald: As with the majority of planning appeals, Scottish ministers delegated determination of this case to the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters Unit. Having delegated determination of the appeal, Scottish ministers had no further involvement in it.

Public Bodies

David McLetchie (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs it estimates will be lost and how many premises currently occupied by non-departmental public bodies it expects to be vacated as a result of the measures outlined by the Minister for Finance and Local Government in his statement on 21 June 2001.

Angus MacKay: No estimate has been made. It is for the relevant ministers to complete the detailed consultation with each body to be abolished, and the ongoing reviews I announced in my statement, and to make decisions about winding up arrangements.

Public Bodies

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions since 1996 any of its agencies or non-departmental public bodies have employed Queens Council to make representations on their behalf at public local inquiries and, in each case, which organisation was the employing body, what the cost was and what the outcome of the inquiry was.

Angus MacKay: This is a matter for individual agencies and non-departmental public bodies. The information requested is not held centrally.

Public Bodies

Ian Jenkins (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in its plans to relocate the Scottish Public Pensions Agency.

Angus MacKay: Following a thorough review of the options for relocating the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA), I can announce today we have decided that the SPPA will be located in the Galashiels area of the Borders, subject to the successful conclusion of negotiations for suitable premises.

  The move of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency will create around 175 posts in the Borders. We anticipate that the actual move will take place in the latter part of 2002. We have considered carefully a number of options and believe that relocation to the Galashiels area meets the criteria for the location of public sector work set out by the then First Minister in his answer to question S1W-1558 on 15 September 1999.

Roads

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3635 by Lewis Macdonald on 28 June 2001, whether it will define the term "special roads".

Sarah Boyack: The term "special road" is defined in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 as a road provided or to be provided in accordance with a scheme under section 7 of this Act. It is a road which is designated for use by restricted classes of traffic.

Special Educational Needs

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the uptake is by each local authority of speech and language therapy funding for children with a Record of Needs.

Nicol Stephen: This information is not collected centrally. Grant-aided expenditure of £200 million for 2001-02 is available to local authorities to use in light of local needs and circumstances. Included in this figure is £6.5 million per year for speech and language therapy for pupils with Records of Needs.

Victim Support

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to provide funding for the production of an information pack, similar to that produced in England and Wales, for those bereaved as a result of murder.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Executive, through its Scottish Strategy for Victims, is committed to improving the information for victims of crime in Scotland. The Justice Department will consider providing an information pack for those families bereaved by murder, as part of this work.